The “Water Cooler” is a feature on Claycord.com where we ask you a question or provide a topic, and you talk about it.
The “Water Cooler” will be up Monday-Friday at noon.
Today’s question:
Does it bother you when gardeners and homeowners use leaf blowers to blow leaves, twigs, dirt, etc. into the roadway, instead of picking them up?
Talk about it….
41 comments
Fun fact, in contra costa county that comes with a hefty fine, so I would pick up the debris if I were you
Lol.. like they would enforce it. In today’s world, that would be “racist”.
EVERYDAY!!!! and they just blow it down the road, into the next guys yard or middle of the street. They should be fined heavily for it, littering!!!
I know if i ever could afford gardeners and they did that Id fire them on the spot, id make sure they clean/sweep it up if they wanted my job.
@Jeff is right. Put a nominal price on it. It gives it value. I tried to get rid of something for free and nobody would take it …then when I put a $5 price on it they did! Human nature can be strange at times.
Yes! It’s right up there with dropping off old furniture and mattresses on the side of a public street or road. If you want to get rid of something, put it in front of your house with a “free” sign on it for a couple of days, and if no one wants it, take it to the dump yourself! The world is not your garbage can!
I agree with you prairiegirl, although on the other hand, it does cost ~$40 to take a mattress to a dump. As far as putting it as free in your front yard, it would probably be more effective to say it is for sale, say $10 bucks…bet it would disappear faster than if it was free…
take a razor blade and cut off the mattress fabric and put it in your trash. It’s not a mattress anymore, it’s a ball of fabric, some metal wire and pieces of wood.
There you go, you just saved $40 and a trip to the dump.
@Jeff
My experience is that Free combined with a posting on Craigslist will usually make things disappear in a hurry. I have had stuff dumped on our curb and made it disappear just by posting a CL ad.
Yes, especially when I’m driving by at the same time. Stupido
.. yes of course…. interesting the only time I’ve seen it is when they are servicing government properties (city, state, etc) or businesses. Why not fine the business? or hiring partners, etc.
My neighbor’s gardener used to blow them over onto my lawn. I’d rather they didn’t blow them into the street, because when it rains they end up in the storm drain.
My first gardener blew them all onto the lawn before he mowed and then picked them up with the lawnmower. I thought that was pretty clever of him.
I’m wondering how many here actually have used a leaf blower? It’s quite a fine art to get the leaves and twigs to go where you want. Around here leaves and twigs wind up on the side of the road from nearby trees. The street sweeper gets those every few couple weeks. Not saying it is okay to blow stuff into the street BTW.
Yes it bothers me, I really think leaf blowers should be banned. If the environmentalist are so concerned with pollution then they should put a stop to leaf blowers. They blow all sorts of toxins into the air, including animal feces and mold, and can trigger asthma attacks. The pollution from two a cycle engine emits more emissions than a car, this is why two cycle motorcycles over 110 cc are no longer sold in California.
Most leaf blower operators I’ve seen seem to be inexperienced and blow dirt, rocks, and other debris all over the place. In parking lots they will blow stuff all over parked cars, which can damage a cars paint job, and if you just washed your car, you will be pretty ticked off.
The country got along just fine before leaf blowers were invented, and we will get along just fine without them.
Just bought a new rechargeable craftsman leaf blower. Its lightweight, quiet and does the job around the house. Just enough power.
Absolutely. The point of leaf blowing is to clear a lawn/yard of debris (i.e., cleaning). Blowing the debris to the street is not cleaning, it is just moving it from one yard to allow it to blow to all the other yards.
Yep, that’s the triple on the stupid meter.
They’re noisier than a jet flying by.
They pollute.
AND when you blow them in the street, it serves ZERO purpose (and possibly a 4th hazard, block the drains if it rains heavily).
My gardener uses the blower to blow everything into a pile, then puts it in my green bin. I thought that was pretty much standard.
My neighbor does the same thing and uses an electric blower. He will even do mine sometimes. The wife will bake something for him or I will grab a six pack of beer he likes.
They blow all the leaves into our parking lot. Then about every six months they gather all the stuff and take it away.
We have a electric blower, and I clean-up ours, neighbor’s driveways and in the court, then put in green waste tote. Other neighbors that have Gardeners, pick up the stuff in the street too. Team work, and everyone is happy.
This is what all the gardeners in our neighborhood do. Have never seen one blowing into street or onto a neighboring property..
I live in an area of unincorporated Walnut Creek where the city has no (or wants no) no authority and Click Fix passes off duties to the sheriff (translation: nothing ever gets done). As a result giant piles of oil-covered leaves are pushed into our creeks and storm drains by careless landscapers who do not live here and take no pride. Blowing leaves does not get rid of them it just moves them around, so to know that gas powered machines are operating sometimes two at a time tag-teaming yards and parks all over town EVEN WHEN THERE ARE NO LEAVES… no wonder our skies are rarely ever blue. Blowers were out during the wildfires when nobody could breathe!!! They were the only ones working while the rest of us were locked indoors trying to work and school and recovery from a respiratory virus. ARE YOU KIDDING ME PPL? Inconsiderate, uniformed leaders and the lazy crews they support are destroying our city.
Yes, they think they’re professional but they are not. Sloppy work habit.
Yes, there was a time when people used leaf rakes and placed their debris in garbage cans. Then, people got lazy and fat. They hired “gardeners” who enjoy walking around my neighborhood daily making all kinds of noise pollution.
There was a time when everyone burned their leaves
Don’t we have real problems?
True first world “problems”….
Yes. I have had to scoop debris left by gardeners of a neighboring property that could potentially clog up the drains on our street.
Leaf blowers also contribute to noise pollution, air pollution & hearing loss. They also likely irritate your neighbors that have to work from home or have children that are stuck at home in distance learning.
No, but that is because I try not to think about that and I’m good at ignoring it. There’s only so much I can be concerned about. Gotta consider how much room there is on the back burner lest I put too much stuff on it and end up with a huge nasty mess everywhere. My neighbor across the street has a crew who uses them but I’ve only ever seen them make less of a mess, rather than more. I guess they do make little piles to dispose of in the green bin, now that I think harder about it.
Booo to alll leaf blowers! Imagine having a neighbor who uses one regularly? So rude, period.
It is not rude if done after 9:00am and during the day.
Yes, I see and hear it all of the time. 95% of the leaves I pick up are not mine. Also the people upwind do yard work by wind!
I use a leaf blower but finish with a broom and dustpan.
Jeff (the other one?) has a good point about putting a price tag on items that you want to get rid of. That does make it seem like the item has some value. Thanks!
It’s not that hard to RAKE leaves and it’s good exercise. Leaf blowers are annoying but I joint get too worked up about them.
I blow it all into the street the day the street sweeper comes. Why the heck should pick it up when my tax dollars pay the street sweeper driver..
Yes, I sweep my leaves up and put them in the green container.
The gardeners who do that are called “blow and go.”
My neighbor had a huge liquid amber he NEVER cleaned up after so it blew in everyone else yard. Then you have elderly or disabled people on limited income that have to do their own yard work. If then they blow that debris in the street I dont fault them . The litter is from the lazy careless neighbor.
It is annoying. It’s so easy to blow the junk in your gutters ONTO your lawn, and then mow the lawn.
The gardener I have now has all electric equipment and it’s very quiet. He carefully blows the leaves up in a pile and puts them in the yard waste cart. He’s very reliable and conscientious and does beautiful work. If you’re looking for someone, I can highly recommend him, Mario and Roseanne Landscaping. Mostly Clayton, but you can call. He will come by and give you a price, 925-354-5280, I finally had to get a gardener and I’ve been really pleased with his work, a very personable young man.
I think we should do it like it is done in Davis……..put all your leaves in the street next to the curb.
Oooh shiny red ball! Meanwhile, thousands of illegals just shipped to your sanctuary city in the darkness of night!!! Can you smell your local tax increase? Shoot, the facilities are so horrible the government won’t allow photos. Never mind the closed business’, closed schools, future covid increase, increased gang problems, child exploitation, drug wars, or sex trafficking in your defund the police city, Never-mind the future foster case system problems that will increase. Don’t reach out to your representative, he’s on the take! Really complaint about leaf blowers!
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